Dana Kupper

Bio and Research Information

Dana Kupper is a documentary cinematographer from Chicago, and has traveled the world to tell people’s stories She started in the film business as a union camera technician, working on feature films and TV shows, but left to follow her passion in documentaries. She is an associate at the highly respected Kartemquin Films, a media arts organization that received the MacArthur Award for Creative and Effective Institutions. Dana was one of the main Director of Photographers on “Stevie”, a documentary by Steve James, director of “Hoop Dreams”. “Stevie” won the Documentary Cinematography Award at The 2003 Sundance Film Festival. She recently went to Sundance with the Roger Ebert film, “Life Itself”. Dana and her husband own a production company, and have produced over 30 videos for Chicago Public Schools. She also shoots corporate pieces and commercials in the naturalistic documentary style that is her speciality. Recently she traveled to Saudi Arabia as an Arts Envoy for the US State Department to talk to fellow filmmakers in the kingdom. She has taught digital and documentary cinematography classes at Columbia College for over 28 years, and is now a full time faculty member at DePaul University's School of Cinematic Arts.